Despite the availability of electricity in the industrial world, as well as much of the third world, alternative means for lighting one's residence and dwelling are still used. One of the most common forms of simple economical lighting of rooms in a house is by the use of candles. Candles come in a variety of shapes and scents, and can have both utilitarian and decorative aspects. One primary utilitarian use of candles is for lighting a room when the electricity has gone off. Another utilitarian use of candles is for providing light in a small room where activities can still be conducted without the need for glaring high wattage overhead lights. The decorative aspect to the use of candles comes into the forefront during various holiday seasons and religious celebrations and events. The use of candles to illuminate a religious display or holiday decoration is both appealing and deeply evocative of the emotions and sentiments that attend such religious displays or holiday decorations.
However, there remains the perennial problem of successfully lighting the candlewick of the candle without burning one's fingers or hand. In addition, many types of candles have the candlewick set within and surrounded by the candleholder; often the upper rim of the candleholder is higher than the candlewick; or, conversely, the candlewick is set deeply within the candleholder. Thus, the match must be disposed at an angle and lowered below the upper rim of the candleholder to light the candlewick. This invariably leads to the flame of the instantly lighted candlewick burning up the match stem and causing the individual to drop the match after only one candlewick has been lit, and before one can starting lighting any other candles. The prior art thus discloses a variety of devices to obviate these problems.
For example, the Bell patent (U.S. Pat. No. 2,510,854) discloses a match-igniting device that includes a match slidably disposed on a shaft and which is ignited by striking a striker plate located at one end of the shaft.
The Smith patent (U.S. Pat. No. 2,785,556) discloses a device for lighting and extinguishing candles that includes a container holding an inflammable liquid with a tubular support upwardly projecting from the container and diverging into two opposed conduits one of which terminates with a bell-shaped snuffer and the other which terminates with a lighting element such as a wick.
The Nunemaker patent (U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,492) discloses a combination candle lighter and extinguisher that includes a substantially straight rod having a flame extinguisher at one end and a match holder at the opposite end.
The Zuffoletti patent (U.S. design Pat. No. 330,784) discloses a design for a combined candle lighter and snuffer that includes a handle, a rod, and a pair of smaller rods diverging from the rod with one of the smaller rods terminating with a snuffer and the other smaller rod terminating with a lighter.
The Phare patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,309) discloses a candle lighting and extinguishing device that includes a hollow tubular shaft communicating with a squeeze bulb at one end and at the opposite end are two diverging tubular arms one of which is in communication with the pneumatic squeeze bulb and the other terminating with a fuel impregnated wick member.
The Rubino patent (U.S. design Pat. No. 406,409) discloses a design for a candle snuffer that includes a pair of elongated members connected at their medial end and spaced from each other at their distal ends with their distal ends in the form of hands with each hand holding a heart-shaped member so that pressing the heart-shaped member together snuffs out the candle.
Nonetheless, despite the ingenuity of the above devices, there remains a need for a two-way or dual use device that allows one to both light a candle and snuff out a candle from various angles of approach while at the same time keeping one's hand and fingers away from the flame of the lit candle.